Cooler for sinter and the like



June 4, 1963 Filed April 22. 1959 FigJ.

V'. F. KOONTZ ETAL COOLER FOR SINTER AND THE LIKE BY M,

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmvrozes Victor E Koontz John A.Anthes ATTORNEYS June 4, 1963 v. F. KOONTZ ETAL 3,092,473

COOLER FOR SINTER AND THE LIKE Filed April 22. 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Victor EKoontz JohnAAmhes c 7. 4 I W ATTORNEYS J1me 1963 v. F. KOONTZ ETAL 3,092,473

COOLER FOR SINTER AND THE LIKE Filed April 22, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet a INVENTORS Victor E Koontz BY JohnA.Amhes M 15m M ATTORNEYS June 4, 1963 Filed April 22. 1959 v. F. KOONTZ ETAL 3,092,473

COOLER FOR SINTER AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.7.

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JNVENTORS VictorE Koontz y John A.Anfhes ATTORNEYS 3,692,473 Patented June 4, I963 3,092,473 COOLER FOR SINTER AND THE LIKE Victor F. Koontz, Coraopolis, and John A. Anthes, Bethel Borough, Pa., assignors to Dravo Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 808,tl39 9 Claims. (Cl. 34-164) This invention is for an apparatus for cooling sinter after it is discharged from the sintering apparatus, or for cooling other hot bulk material, such as ore pellets, nodulized material, cement clinker, and the like.

For purposes of illustration only, we shall hereafter refer to sinter specifically, but without exclusion of such other material. Various forms of sinter cooling apparatus have heretofore been devised in which air is blown through the sinter to accelerate cooling, but such apparatus is complicated by the use of expensive moving parts which are subject to destructive action of the abrasive dust, the abrasive character of the sinter, and to temperature changes that tend to warp and distort the apparatus, and sometimes clogging of air passages by the sinter or compacted sinter dust.

The present invention has for its principal object to provide a sinter cooling apparatus in which there are few moving parts, and these are of a simple construction, easily maintained. A further object is to provide a sinter cooler which not only has few moving parts, "but which is so constructed that the various parts may expand and contract without stressing or warping other parts. A further important object of our invention is to provide a sinter cooler which is designed to handle a large volume of sinter with a relatively small ground space requirement, as compared to present types of sinter coolers, and in which the air passages are disposed to resist clogging. These and other objects and advantages are secured by our invention, as will more fully appear from the following detailed description.

Generally, our invention contemplates the distribution of the hot sinter into the top of an annular space defined between inner and outer walls of a louvre-like construction. The sinter moves by gravity down through this space and is removed at the bottom. Air is forced through one wall, through the sinter in the annular space, and out the other wall. The cooled sinter is removed at the bottom of the space uniformly around the space and at a rate comparable to the rate at which sinter is supplied to the top, so that under normal conditions the space remains uniformly full around the entire structure. Since gravity constitutes the principal means for moving the sinter through the cooler, its structure is simple and involves few moving parts. The slope of the louvre ele ments is such as to prevent their clogging.

Our invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through the cooler with certain parts in elevation, the section to the left of the vertical center line being through the main column of the cooler in approximately the plane of line II of FIG. 3, and the section at the right of the center line being in the region of a feeder being in approximately the vertical plane of line 1A--1A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal section in the plane of line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar fragmentary section in the plane of line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a similar fragmentary section in the plane of line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a similar fragmentary section in the plane of line V-V of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section through one of the inner louvres, the view being on a larger scale;

10b welded to its outer edge.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one of the grate-like outer louvres herein sometimes called grates removed from the apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section showing two of the grates of FIG. 7 in stacked relation;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary front elevation of a flanged filler or louvre Plate used in part of the grate-like louvred construction of the outer wall of the sinter cooling space; and

FIGS. 10 and 11 show the details of a diaphragm in a plenum chamber.

The structure shown in the drawings may typically be of the order of 45 to 50 feet in overall diameter, and of a height of 70 or more feet. Consequently the drawings are on a greatly reduced scale, and the drawings are therefore illustrative of the structure, and simplified or somewhat schematic for clarity of illustration of the novel features of the apparatus.

In the drawings, 2 designates a series of main vertical columns arranged equidistantly in a circle about the vertical center line C-C of the apparatus. A circularlyextending box girder 3, which is actually polygonal, but in effect circular, is mounted at the tops of these columns. The box girder 3 supports a central loading cone 4 formed of heavy metal plate, and which slopes upwardly from the box girder.

Well down from the box girder 3 there is an open platform 5 of structural members projecting beyond the circle defined by the columns 2.. On the under side of the circular box 3 are welded depending lugs 6, there being several of these lugs between each two columns. I-beams 7 have their upper ends pivotally attached to the lugs at 8, and they slope downwardly and outwardly to the periphery of the platform 5, each I-beam having its lower end slidably resting against an inclined chair or support 9 (see FIGS. 1 and 3). Since the I-beams define a cage in the form of a truncated cone, the bottoms of the I-beams are spaced farther from one another than the top, although all of the I-beams are equally spaced around the structure. Spanning the space between each pair of I beams 7 are a series of horizontally-extending louvre plates designated generally as 10. These plates slope downwardly and outwardly, the lower outer edge of each overlapping the top edge of the one beneath. As best shown in FIG. 6, each louvre 10 has a main louvre plate 10a with a wear plate T-bars 10c welded to the flanges of the I-beams 7 at each end of the plates 10a support the ends of the plates in position on the I-beams, the louvres being bolted to these T-bars. There is thus formed below the distributing or loading cone 4 a truncated conical structure enclosed by horizontally-extending spaced louvres that slope downwardly and outwardly in overlapping relation. Since the louvres 10 do not extend clear to the top of the I-beams 7, but terminate at the level where the I beams 7 project through the circle defined by the columns 2, a circular apron 3a depends from an annular plate 3b on top of the box girder 3, to close the otherwise open space between the uppermost louvre 10 and the box girder 3. There is an apparent non-symmetry of this apron in the left and right-hand sides of FIG. 1, due to the fact that in the left side of FIG. 1 the section is close to a column 2, whereas in the right-hand side the section is midway between two columns 2.

Below the platform 5 there is a second horizontal structural frame 11 comprised of radial sections 11a (see FIG. 2) and pairs of parallel sections 11b, the latter extending outwardly from columns 2 well beyond the diameter of the platform 5. The outer ends of the sections 11b are supported on the tops of columns 12 arranged in a circular series outside the columns 2. Above the level of the platform 11 the columns 12 have vertical extensions 12a.

The columns 2 support an inverted conical discharge hopper 13 which is below the platform 11, and which has a central discharge opening 14. Below this there is a belt conveyor 15 that extends outwardly in any desired direction and to any distance beyond the structure. -It receives the cooled sinter from the hopper 13 and carries it to the place where it is dumped, either into cars, onto other conveyors, or to a storage heap.

Extending upwardly from the column extensions 12a is a cylindrical metal enclosing shell 16 which is encircled with a structural band 17 at about the level of the box girder 3, and also at other levels with strengthening bands 18. There is a sectional circular system of radially and diagonally-extending structural members 19 and 20= extending inwardly from the bracing ring 17 (see FIG. At the inner end of each radial pair of braces 19 there is a plate section 22. There is a similar circular system of bracing 21 above it. A vertical annular confining wall composed of vertical sections 23 is supported at the inner edge of these two systems of bracing, each vertical section being carried on its own section of braces.

'Downwardly and outwardly-sloping columns of channel section 24 have their upper ends welded to the plates 22 and their lower ends pivoted at 25 to gussets 26 secured to the inner face of shield 16 around the interior of the shell 16 at the tops of the column extensions 12a. These channels are arranged in pairs with the'webs back-to-back and with the tops of each pair close together and diverging toward the bottom. Confronting channels of adjacent pairs are parallel while the two channels of each pair diverge downwardly. FIG. 3 shows the channels near their lower ends, and FIG. 4 shows them near their upper ends. It will be seen that'the distance X between confronting channels of adjacent pairs in both FIGS. 3 and 4 is the same, while the dimension Y is much less than the dimension Y. Thus the pairs of channel sections 24 also define a truncated cage-like cone concentric with the trun cated cage-like cone defined by the sloping sections 7. The annular space 27 between the two conical cages is the space into which the sinter is charged to be cooled. The bracing 19 and 20 and 21 is relatively light and is made in series of circumferential sections so as to allow for vertical and unequal expansion of the channel sections 24 and also accommodate circumferential expansion, and for the same reason the wall 23 is made sectional.

Instead of the outer conical'cage having louvres, similar to louvres on the inner cage, there is a stack of cast metal grate bars 28 confined in the spaces between the confronting channels 24 of adjacent pairs. These grate bars are secured in place by flanged filler pieces 29 and 29a confined between the channels of each pair. As shown in FIG. 4, the filler pieces 29 are T-shaped sections with the shank or stem'of the T confined between the channels 24, whereas farther down the filler pieces 29a have the shank of the T in the form of two flanges 29a with the surface of the plate formed with louvre-like slots 290 (see FIG. 9). The filler plates 29 and 29a are of cast metal construction to better resist heat, and are secured in place by bolts or in any other suitable manner. Y The grate bars 28 are shown in detail in FIGS. 7 and 8 and they have a main bar portion 28a with notched ends 2812 to interlock with the flanges or edges of the filler plates. Near each end of the main bar portion on the top and bottom are contact lugs 28c so that the lugs of one bar engage those of the ones above and below and support the main bar portions of each out of contact with the ones above and below. This provides a louvre-like outer wall construction, the bars being shaped so that the space between them slopes upwardly from the inner face of the wall. Because of the slope of the spaces between the louvres, the sinter material will not pack in the air passages and obstruct them.

Thus the circular cooling space 27 is between a conical inner wall formed of downwardly-sloped louvres 10 and .an outer wall formed by the somewhat downwardly and inwardly-inclined grate bar louvre elements 28.

Below the lower platform structure 11 there is an annular air pipe or bustle pipe 30, and a pipe 31 leading from a fan (not shown) supplies air to the bustle pipe 36. At intervals around the structure there are outlet pipes 32 opening upwardly into the space under the loading cone 4, and within the inner louvred wall structure, which space, designated 33, constitutes a central plenum chamber. The air flows out between the louvres 10 into the space 27, passing through the sinter in this space and escapes through the grate-like louvres 28 in the outer wall.

There is here shown an eccentric top cover 34 at the top of the structure, and a wall structure 35 extends from the top ring 18 up to the cover 34, this wall structure being vertical at the left of FIG. 1 and sloping with decreasing pitch toward the diametrically-opposite point at the right of FIG. 1. Centered in the top structure is a receiving hopper 36 to receive hot sinter from a conveyor or other transfer mechanism. A baffie 36a in the center of the hopper distributes the falling sinter around the interior of the hopper. The open bottom of this hopper is centered above the loading cone, so that the sinter falls vertically from the hopper onto the center of the loading cone, without the horizontal component of motion or trajectory which it may have when it leaves the conveyor which delivers it to the cooler, and from the loading cone it flows equally in all directions into the space 27.

There are a number of radial vibrating conveyor pans 37 with their inner ends overhanging the top of the discharge hopper 13 and their outer ends are below the space 27. Sloping plate elements 38 form chute-like guides or a continuous circumferential succession of contiguous hopper-like structures with downwardly converging sides, each with a power-operated conveyor or vibrating apron at the bottom thereof. The vibrators for vibrating the conveyors are designated 39.

In operation the hot sinter is continuously discharged onto the loading cone and gravitates into the space 27, distributing itself more or less uniformly around the space. The plates 23 allow the material to extend well above the top of this space so that there will be a depth of material above this space, as indicated in FIG. 1. It also provides storage space if, for any reason, the material would be discharged into the cooler when it might temporarily be prevented from being removed from the bottom. As above explained, air is blown from the central plenum chamber 33 through the louvres 10, through the sinter in the space 27, and out through the louvred outer wall into the space Within the shell 16. The air is removed through a stack or duct 40 on the top 34 of the structure. The sinter is cooled by the flow of air through it, and enough sinter is kept above the space 27 so that there will be little flow of air vertically from the space 27. The sinter is continuously removed by the vibrating conveyors at the bottom, being cooled as it gravitates down the space 27 Since the air flow is away from the louvres 10 and is cold, these louvres are relatively light, but the air may be quite hot where it impinges on the grate bars 28, for which reason cast iron or alloy is used at this location, and this is the reason why the filler pieces 29 and 29a are used, since they prevent the structural sections 24 from being too intensely heated. The apron 3a is exposed on its inner face to air in the plenum, but it prevents air from blowing from the plenum up through the top of the space 27, and keeps sinter from falling inwardly above the level of the louvres 10.

The sinter cooler as herein disclosed can be made in various sizes to accommodate the respective sintering plants with which they are to be used. The only moving parts are the vibratory conveyors 37 which can be hardened to resist abrasion and replaced when necessary. There is large excess storage capacity above the space 27, as previously explained, in which sinter can be accumulated. An important advantage of the construction is that the sloping sections 7 forming the inner cage construction are free to expand and contract lengthwise 'relatively to each other, as are also the sections 24 form- 'ing the support for the outer louvred wall of the space '27, and each of the two louvred walls are free to expand and contract relatively to each other. This is one reason for providing the bracing structure comprised of the members 19, 20 and 21, since this bracing not only supports wall 23, but supports the tops of the sections 24 independently of the inner louvred wall. Moreover, the grate bar louvres 28, in the Zone of greatest heat, are loose enough in the structure to allow for free expansion of one relative to another, and for radial and vertical expansion of the various outer wall parts.

The enclosed space above the space 27 under the receiving hopper 36 causes the air velocity to substantially decrease, causing entrained particles and dust to drop out of the air before it leaves the enclosure. Dust and fines will tend to collect in the bottom of the shell 16 around the base of the sections 24. An annular series of hoppers 41 around the base of these columns with doors 42 are provided to collect this fine material. A circular track is provided at 43 on the outer extension of platform 11 so that a car 44 may be moved along beneath these hoppers to collect the fine material when doors 42 are opened. Because the annular space 27 increases in area downwardly, due to the conical shape of the confining walls, the sinter does not tend to pack or hang up as it moves downwardly through the space. While we prefer, therefore, to have the space 27 increase in diameter toward the bottom, the space 27 may be of cylindrical or other form.

In the modification schematically shown in FIGS. and 11, there is a diaphragm across the plenum chamber between its top and bottom, this diaphragm being here shown as a fixed plate 50 with a series of openings 51 at equal distances thereabout and of equal area. A shutter 51 having vanes 52 movable over the openings is located on top of the diaphragm plate and has a central hub portion 53 passing through the plate. There is a gear 54 on the lower end of this hub and a motor 55'is provided with a pinion 56 for rotating this shutter. This is merely a schematic illustration of one form of valve arrangement for cutting ofl air flow to the upper part of the plenum. Thus it is possible to control the flow of air to the upper part of the plenum chamber 33. For example, in starting up, it may be desirable to start blowing air when the space 27 is only partly full, or it may be desirable, after a period of running, to empty the cooler, and to continue the blowing until a large part of the space 27 is empty. The provision of a valved diaphragm of some kind therefore enables blowing through the lower louvres to continue after the upper ones are not covered. Also, in this figure we have shown a flat cover 56 over the plenum chamber 33 instead of a cone 4. The sinter or other material will pile up on such a cover until it exceeds its angle of repose, producing in effect a distributing cone of inert material. Either or both of the expedients described in FIGS. 10 and 11 may be used in the apparatus of FIG. 1.

While we have shown and described one present embodiment of our invention, various changes and modifications may be made in the construction of the cooler within the contemplation of our invention and under the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A sinter cooler comprising a structure having inner and outer spaced circular walls of truncated conical shape concentric about a vertical axis, said walls being of louvrelike construction for the passage of air therethrough, the annular space between the two walls being a sinter cooling space, a conical imperforate cover over the inner wall, the space within the inner wall and under said cover constituting an air plenum, means for supplying air under pressure to the air plenum, a shell around the outer wall and extending over and above the two walls 'and the conical cover over the inner wall, andair escape 'passage leading from the shell, a material receivmg hopper in the shell centered over the said conical cover for discharging material vertically onto the conical cover, means at the bottom of said space forming a circular s eries of contiguous hoppers having downwardly-converging side walls, said hoppers being located below the louvered circular walls, a vibratory conveyor extending radially inward from beneath each of said hoppers for receiving material from the respective hoppers and conveying it toward the center of the structure, a central receiving hopper over which the said vibratory conveyors extend and over which they terminate, and a main conveyor below the receiving hopper for carrying away material discharged into the receiving hopper.

2. A sinter cooler as defined in claim 1 in which there is a main supporting structure having a circular series of main uprights with a substantially circular structural member connecting the tops of the uprights, a platform supported by the circular uprights'at the level of the bottom of the inner wall, the inner wall comprising downwardly and outwardly sloping structural members pivotally anchored at their upper ends to the circular structural memand inwardly and anchored at one end only, flange elements on the structural members and individual gratelike louvres extending horizontally between the pairs of structural members stacked one upon the other with their ends interlocked with the flange elements on the structural members whereby the grate-like louvres and structural members may expand and contract independently, the structural members of each pair diverging downwardly.

4. A sinter cooler as defined in claim 1 in which the outer wall of the sinter cooling space is comprised of parallel pairs of structural members sloping upwardly and inwardly and anchored at one end only, flange elements on the structural members and individual grate-like louvres extending horizontally between the pairs of structural members stacked one upon the other with their ends interlocked with the flange elements on the structural members whereby the grate-like louvres and structural members may expand and contract independently, the structural members of each pair diverging downwardly, the flange elements with which the louvres are interlocked projecting radially inwardly from the plane of the structural members whereby the grate-like louvres which contact the hot sinter are supported inwardly from the structural members.

5. A sinter cooler comprising a structure having confronting inner and outer spaced louvered walls in the shape of truncated cones concentric about a vertical axis and providing between them a sinter-receiving and cooling space, means at the bottom of said space providing a circumferential series of contiguous openings each with downwardly-converging walls, a radially-disposed vibratory apron at the bottom of each such hopper extending inwardly toward the vertical axis of the structure, a receiving hopper centered under the inner truncated cone below said vibratory apron, each vibratory apron having a discharge terminal over the receiving hopper, a sinter removal conveyor extending under the receiving hopper onto which sinter from the receiving hopper is discharged and removed, and means for supplying air under pressure to the interior of the inner truncated cone.

6. A sinter cooler having confronting spaced inner and outer louvred walls both in the shape of truncated cones concentric about a vertical axis and providing between them a sinter cooling space, means at the bottom of said space providing a circumferential series of contiguous hoppers each with downwardly-converging walls, a radially-disposed conveyor means at the bottom of each hopper for removing cooled'sinter therefrom, each conveyor 7 comprising a power-actuated member for positively propelling material from the bottom of the hopper along said conveyor, means at the top of the inner wall for 7 7 of the inner wall structure, a housing around and over the outer wall having means at the top through which hot sinter is supplied to the top of the inner wall and into which air and dust that passes from the inner Wall across the space between the two Walls and through the outer wall is received, and means surrounding the base of the outer louvred wall and said circumferential series of hopthe structure each with a sloping back wall and spaced downwardly-converging sides, a radially-disposed conveyor at the bottom of each hopper for moving material in a radial direction away from the sloping back wall and transverse to the converging sides of the hopper, each such conveyor comprising a power-driven means for positively propelling material therealong from the bottom of the hopper, a cover over the inner truncated cone, an

enclosure extending around the outer cone and over the top thereof in spaced relation thereto and means on the top of the enclosure for discharging material onto said cover of the inner cone, the outer cone comprising a substantially continuous downwardly-sloping wall having closely spaced openings therethrough over the greater portion of itsentire area and the inner truncated cone below the top having louvred side walls and means for supplying air under pressure to the interior of the truncated COHC 8. A sinter cooler as defined in claim 7 wherein the outer truncated cone has a vertically-extending cylindrical extension which is imperforate and which encircles but is spaced from the cover of the inner cone and which provides means for retaining surplus of hot sinter to be cooled above the level of the outer cone to increase the resistance to the flow of air upwardly from said space and to force it through the material between the inner and outer truncated cones.

9. A sinter cooler as defined in claim 7 in which the inner and outer truncated cones diverge downwardly whereby the space between said cones increases radially downwardly toward the hoppers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,558,119 Sherban Oct. 20, 1925 1,669,012 Nordstrom May 8, 1928 1,888,636 OToole Nov. 22, 1932 2,671,057 McClure Mar. 2, 1954 2,861,356 Lellep Nov. 25, 1958 2,891,321 Habel June 23, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 459,127 France Aug. 27, 1913 

1. A SINTER COOLER COMPRISING A STRUCTURE HAVING INNER AND OUTER SPACED CIRCULAR WALLS OF TRUNCATED CONCIAL SHAPE CONCENTRIC ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS, SAID WALLS BEING OF LOUVRELIKE CONSTRUCTION FOR THE PASSAGE OF AIR THERETHROUGH, THE ANNULAR SPACE BETWEEN THE TWO WALLS BEING A SINTER COOLING SPACE, A CONCIAL IMPERFORATE COVER OVER THE INNER WALL, THE SPACE WITHIN THE INNER WALL AND UNDERSAID COVER CONSTITUTING AN AIR PLENUM, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING AIR UNDER PRESSURE TO THE AIR PLENUM, A SHELL AROUND THE OUTER WALL AND EXTENDING OVER THE INNER WALL, AND AIR ESCAPE AND THE CONICAL COVER OVER THE INNER WALL, AND AIR ESCAPE PASSAGE LEADING FROM THE SHELL, A MATERIAL RECEIVING HOPPER IN THE SHELL CENTERED OVER THE SAID CONICAL COVER FOR DISCHARGING MATERIAL VERTICALLY ONTO THE CONCIAL COVER, MEANS AT THE BOTTOM OF SAID SPACE FORMING A CIRCULAR SERIES OF CONTIGUOUS HOPPERS HAVING DOWNWARDLY-CONVERGING SIDE WALLS, SAID HOPPER BEING LOCATED BELOW THE LOUVERED CIRCULAR WALLS, A VIBRATORY CONVEYOR EXTENDING RADIALLY IN- 